On Media

Al Jazeera looks to online news with AJ+

By HADAS GOLD

11/22/2013 12:40 PM EST

GigaOm takes a behind the scenes look at AJ+, Al Jazeera's new online-only news network that is set to launch early next year. There will be no news anchors or programming grid and little to no text on the new website that will focus mostly on video news:

The network wants to start off with news coverage from around the world, and also cover verticals like lifestyle, culture and technology. Videos could range from one minute to an hour, but there will be very little text on the AJ+ website. “People like to watch news, not read news,” [Al Jazeera Media Network’s Executive Director of Strategy, Development and Technology Yaser] Bishr said. Minty added that AJ+ is still experimenting with story-telling formats, and that these experiments will continue even after the launch. “We are not scared to fail and make mistakes,” he said.

The site may use some Al Jazeera resources, but aims to produce content completely separate from the networks, part of the reason why it's called AJ+, and not something like Al Jazeera Online.

Al Jazeera America has had a rough start since launching in August, despite huge financial backing from the government of Qatar and hiring on big names from other news networks. The New York Post recently reported that Al Jazeera America has averaged just 13,000 viewers a day since its launch, though some in the media industry (including our Capital New York colleague Alex Weprin) note that the Post is just looking at one way of measuring viewers.

Regardless of the poor ratings, Al Jazeera executives have indicated they're not so concerned about ratings, telling the New York Times in October that Fox News and MSNBC had similarly low ratings when they first launched.

Time Warner Cable recently agreed to carry Al Jazeera America in place of Current TV, which Al Jazeera purchased to launch the new network. The move brings the network to some 55 million homes in some key markets across the United States.